One of my Christmas gifts this year was a Fitbit. This is a watch on steroids. It is not simply a device that tells time. It tracks your steps, the calories you burn, the flights of stairs you take in a day and – if you you’re really industrious with the input of information – will keep track of your caloric and water intake and amount and quality of sleep.
Shortly after putting this device on, I learned something about myself…..I live a rather sedentary lifestyle! The makers of this gadget suggest you take a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. I will admit there have been evenings I find myself jogging in place as I watch TV to meet my goal. The creators of the Fitbit were ingenious in installing encouraging reminders to help me make my target. Every once in a while I feel my device vibrate and on the screen displays messages like “200 more steps and you’ll meet your goal for this hour”, or “You can do this”, or “You nailed it!” For all intents and purposes this thing should sound an alarm and display “Get up and move, you Couch Potato!” If that were the case I’m not sure how long I would wear it.
We are people who thrive on encouragement. We don’t need someone breathing down our necks to tell us what we’re doing wrong or how we’ve “missed the mark”. We are quite good at doing that on our own. It’s the difference between condemnation and conviction.
We are people who thrive on encouragement. We don’t need someone breathing down our necks to tell us what we’re doing wrong or how we’ve “missed the mark”.
Condemnation conveys something degrading or demeaning with no guidance for rectifying the problem. Condemnation is only from the pit of hell. If we listen to it long enough, the only response will be to throw up our hands in surrender as we give in to the “powers that be”. Conviction, on the other hand, is that voice within us that spurs us on to better things. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
So think about what is playing and replaying in your mind. Think about what you’re thinking about! If there’s a loop of negative messages playing in your head with no redemptive value…. It’s time to tell the devil to “take a hike.” Seek guidance from the Lord who will lift you up and walk with you as you pursue Christlikeness.
The next time you are reminded of missing the mark, listen to that “still, small voice”….“You can do this….with Me”, “I’m with you”, “With Me nothing is impossible.”
“With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.” Romans 8:1 (MSG)
